Eurovision 2017 Rehearsals: Day 8 Review

Today is the shortest day of rehearsals before tonight’s red carpet event. It’s the one time us gamblers visit Euroclub and indulge in a few beers and dance the night away to trashy Eurovision classics. From tomorrow the schedule gets serious as we view multiple dress rehearsals before Tuesday’s first live show.

This will be the last daily review and our coverage will now focus on semi-final and final predictions. All other updates will be on Twitter.

O.Torvald are in similar form to first rehearsal. Time is competent if not rather anonymous despite the rock USP. The floor LEDs now form a body under the head during the final shots. Ukraine doing the bare minimum here.

Francesco has been partying at Euroclub for 3-days straight judging by the bags under his eyes. Nevertheless, with one smile he lit up the whole of Kyiv. It’s the only song the press centre falls quiet for. Francesco just oozes charisma, and where every other act is choreographed to the nth-degree, Gabbani just lets loose and even has the confidence to improvise in each run through. He now performs a manikin challenge during the middle-eight as the gorilla bops away. I can’t see anything else coming close to Italy this year regardless of the first half draw.

Manel was sounding horse this morning. The staging remains the same, but vocals sound much worse. Not much to add other than Spain will struggle to avoid last place, even from the second half. Likewise, Germany could suffer the same fate given the lack of interest in the press centre. Even more pyros are deployed to add life to this lifeless piece of shopping centre musac.

Lucie started well below par this morning, but her vocals soon warmed up. This is probably the best UK package since Jade Ewan finished 5th in 2009, but the UK is sailing in very different waters nowadays and I don’t see the televote being quite so enthusiastic when there are one or two better ballads to choose from. The juries could have it their top-10, though.

France retain their Google Maps staging, which switches to flying apartment blocks before settling in Paris. Such is the lack of impact and relevant narrative, France has guaranteed themselves a ‘filler slot’ in the final.

That’s it from us, we’ll be back for tomorrow’s dress rehearsal and jury rehearsal for semi-final 1. Keep an eye on Twitter for draw updates.

About Gavster

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I’m a qualified designer and the official geek in the crew, dedicating most of my free time to keeping the ESCtips show on the road. My family routes allow me to support the UK, Ireland and Italy.

Songs that qualify will draw lots for a first half/second half slot and then the show’s producers allocate them a final slot in the overall running order. You can normally tell how well or badly a song did in the semi final by the slot it is given: e.g the dreaded second position in the singing order will almost certainly be given to a song that came ninth or tenth in their respective semi.

Italy have drawn first half for the final whereas the rest of the automatic qualifiers Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and France have all drawn second half along with Ukraine who has slot 22. So this gives 12 first half’s and 8 second half’s remaining for the semi qualifiers to pick from.

Imagine if Sweden, Portugal and Bulgaria all draw first half for the final. It will be interesting to see how the producers place them in that first half along with Italy in the running order.

Just a question for Gavster here. Let’s say the UK gets 10th or 9th place overall in this year’s Grand Final, thanks to a good jury-vote and a not-so-bad televote, do you still think such a result is mostly caused by incredible staging and Lucie’s incredible belting? Or is it also caused by the UK actually choosing a very decent, if not good, song, that is both pure and emotional as well as the best meldoy for the UK since Jade Ewen’s ‘My Time’?

Personally, I think the UK will be back in the TOP 10 with this one. Not just because of juries, but also because televoters at home will relate to Lucie’s charm and emotive power to a certain extend.

IF the UK comes 11th, 10th, or even 9th or 8th next week? I sincerely hope it will be the kick-off to a better Eurovision future for the UK in upcoming years. Similar to what Anouk did to The Netherlands starting in 2013.

Guys start laying like crazy Italy, I think that they might perform first, looks the best song to open the night, and many songs which are ballads wont go first 100% sure. If he performs first i don’t thing he is going to win.

If there are reasons for laying Italy it might be concerns over Francesco’s rough voice, continued worries about picking up the gorilla on the dark backdrop and the fact that Salvador may yet make an explosively sweet impact in Tuesday’s semi…

I know Brotherhood of Man showed us in 1976 that you can win from the head of the pack, but I would be amazed if the producers opened with Italy: 11 or 13 seem most likely…..surrounded by slower songs that finished 7th to 10th in their semis.

Other reasons for laying Italy are that the song is mostly non-English, the casual viewer not understanding the meaning of the song, the interpretation of being a “joke” entry, the busy-ness of the stage and backdrop… and the fact that the gorilla could even be perceived as a negative distraction overall…

Nice analysis guys, but lets say that Moldova, Romania and Israel perform on the second half or dont qualify to the final, then which song do you thing could be the opener of the final, from both semis? If sweeden wins the semi or comes second they wont put them first again in the final.

Interesting question. They won’t give it Sweden anyway
because it will have already gone first (same for
Serbia). Belgium not a bad option if it qualifies but they got it last
year . Greece potentially, as a non challenging uptempo song
that isn’t strongly fancied. I don’t think they’d go for Moldova or Romania anyway as it could send out too much of a cheap and gimmicky message. I know Greece isn’t far of that but I can’t see many options. Greece or Israel imo.

Let’s hope the jury vote will help the UK here. I really can’t see the UK scoring highly with he televote. Look at Czech Republic last year which in my opinion was better and came bottom with the televote.

As a basic song you may be right.. ‘I stand’ was a brilliant song but the staging wasn’t very good and the number 2 draw killed it, sadly. Lucie is as good a singer and the staging much much better. The later draw will also help. I can really see a left hand side finish this year and if a few underperform then maybe sneak 8-10th. All in all a much improved UK effort which deserves a decent finish.

No idea. Only going from my own opinion and I found it poor. Boring, not enough close ups and the hair bit at the end did not work at all. She was stunning but they dressed her badly too imo. Maybe the press were distracted as she was a babe or maybe they just loved the song, as I did, and overlooked the flaws. It was great that they qualified.The public certainly weren’t impressed.